Feds Say Judge Hampering Webcam Spy Probe

Prosecutors are claiming that a federal judge is hampering a criminal investigation into a webcam scandal at a Philadelphia suburban school district.

The evidence prosecutors are seeking is connected to a federal civil lawsuit in which the plaintiff’s lawyers claim that the Lower Merion School District secretly snapped thousands of webcam images of students using school-issued laptops without the pupils’ knowledge or consent.

U.S. District Judge Jan DuBois, who is presiding over the civil case, two weeks ago ordered that evidence should only be disseminated to those connected to the civil lawsuit. (.pdf) U.S. Attorney Michael Levy wrote the judge, saying Friday that the freeze order “interfered with the government’s obligation to investigate possible criminal conduct occurring within this district.”

Levy asks the court to “modify its order to permit the government access.” (.pdf) Among other things, Levy wants to examine what plaintiffs lawyers contend are thousands of screenshots school-supplied MacBooks took of an unknown number of children, some of which might include nude or partially clothed shots.

When the story broke in February, the district said the cameras were activated a handful of times when a laptop was reported stolen or missing — an assertion lawyers suing the district say is false. The district has deactivated the webcam-tracking program secretly lodged on 2,300 student laptops.

The 6,900-pupil district, which provides students from its two high schools free MacBooks, was sued in federal court in February on allegations that it was undertaking a dragnet surveillance program targeting its students.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, was based on a claim by sophomore Blake Robbins that school officials reprimanded him for “improper behavior” based on photos the computer secretly took of the boy at home last fall. Another picture shows him asleep at home in October.

That “behavior” turned out to be pill-popping. The family said their son was eating Mike and Ike candy.